1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a method and/or apparatus for measuring the tension in body tissue. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and/or apparatus for measuring the tension in body tissue at a site of a surgical anastomosis.
2. Background of Related Art
Anastomosis is the surgical joining of separate hollow organ sections. Typically, an anastomosis procedure follows a surgical procedure in which a diseased or defective section of hollow tissue is removed and the remaining end sections are drawn together and joined. Depending on the desired anastomosis procedure, the end sections may be joined by either circular, end-to-end, or side-to-side organ reconstruction methods.
In a known circular anastomosis procedure, two ends of organ sections are drawn together and joined by means of a stapling device which drives a circular array of staples through the end of each organ section and simultaneously cores any tissue interior of the driven circular array of staples to free a tubular passage. Examples of devices for performing circular anastomosis of hollow organs are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,053,390; 5,588,579; 5,119,983; 5,005,749; 4,646,745; 4,576,167; and 4,473,077, each of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. Typically, these devices include an elongated shaft having a handle portion at a proximal end thereof to effect actuation of the device and a staple holding component disposed at a distal end thereof. An anvil assembly including an anvil shaft with attached anvil head is mounted to the distal end of the device such that the anvil head is movable towards the staple holding component. The two ends of the organ sections are drawn together and clamped between the anvil head and the staple holding component of the device by securing one end of the organ section to the anvil assembly, securing the other end of the organ section about the staple holding component, and moving the anvil head towards the staple holding component. The clamped tissue is stapled by driving one or more staples from the staple holding component so that the ends of the staples pass through the organ sections and are deformed by the anvil head. An annular knife is concurrently advanced to core tissue within the hollow organ to free a tubular passage within the organ. Typically, this procedure is conducted endoscopically or laparoscopically using endoscopic instruments.
Although the circular anastomosis procedure described above has provided substantial improvements to surgical procedures requiring anastomosis, additional improvements are desired. For example, when the two ends of the organ sections to be anastomosed are drawn together, tension is generated in the organ sections. Because of the type of surgery, it can be difficult for a surgeon to determine how much tension is being or has been applied to the organ sections at the anastomotic site. Excessive tension on the organ sections at the anastomotic site may result in complications, e.g., strictures, postoperative leaks, necrosis, etc.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a surgical apparatus and/or method for measuring the tissue tension at an anastomotic site and providing a surgeon with immediate data indicating the magnitude of the tension. It would also be desirable to provide an apparatus which is suitable for use with a circular anastomosis device and could measure the initial and residual tension at an anastomotic site during a surgical procedure.